


Gen-Alt

by RebaK1tten



Series: Gen-Alts [1]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: AU - Spencer's a cat hybrid, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Spencer joins the BAU, weird science stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 16:36:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5341040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebaK1tten/pseuds/RebaK1tten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spencer is the result of a scientific experiment, a hybrid of humans and cats. He joins the BAU and Derek is his mentor. Feelings happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gen-Alt

 

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.   [ **Albert Einstein**](http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins161262.html)

  
The first time Morgan learned that they’d be working with a Gen-Alt, his reaction was “Fuck, no, Hotch! Look I’m sorry about the little freaks, but No. What we do is skilled and technical and not something that some mutant house cat can just walk into and start doing.”

“First of all, it’s not an option, Morgan, it’s a directive. All government agencies and departments in DC will take on a number of the Gen-Alt population, based on the size of the agency. Second, Agent Reid passed his training classes and qualifies as a full, probationary agent. Third, his IQ is estimated at 187. They don’t know yet how to determine what their education equivalents should be, but I’m told he probably has the equivalent of two or three PhDs. And four, we’re all doing training classes on working with Genetically Altered Human Felines starting tomorrow. No casework, no exceptions. I hope you can adjust, Morgan. Word is, anyone who can’t or won’t will be allowed to resign.”

Their entire office attends classes in preparation for the two GAHFs who are to start working within the week; one with the BAU and one in Counter Terrorism. There are two instructors who have worked to integrate the approximately 950 Gen-Alts (an acceptable term) into society. They confirm the Gen-Alts were created during the 80s and early 90s by anxious scientists who apparently thought they could create super soldiers or super scientists or super somethings. Or maybe they were just messing around, but either way, the end result is a huge international embarrassment and political scandal that needs to be corrected.

The instructors confirm the Gen-Alts are generally above normal intelligence and speak English (and possibly other languages) and are perfectly able to do skilled, technical work. Because their upbringing was very military-like they’re extremely suited to military or intelligence work.

The Gen-Alts do have some outward cat-like appearance, which varies from person to person and which generation they are. “Just like all of us in this room, we’re all individuals!” says the instructor, way too cheerily.  Earlier versions are more cat-like, later they’ve “bred out” things that made the scientists and guards too uncomfortable. Some have whiskers or eyebrows, they have more or less fur and most all have tails. Their emotions are like regular humans, although they may be slightly more stand-offish. It’s not known if that’s due to their cat genes or their upbringing or the fact that they now have to live with people who treated them worse than people treat their pets.

It isn’t true that they can’t resist chasing shiny objects or they go into heat. They don’t hate dogs and they don’t eat mice. They pair off with each other or with “regular” humans, and there have been two newborns over the past three years. They’re just your average, genetically engineered cat-human hybrid, originally designed to be a race of superior fighters and we’re going to play nice with them or you may as well turn in your two week’s notice.  Message received.

The team leaves their two-day seminar feeling like they’ve been hit in the head with baseball bats and ready to meet their new co-worker.

The first time Morgan meets Spencer Reid he notices how normal he looks and yet how unusual he looks. He’s tall, slender with an almost pretty face and light brown, slightly messy hair. Dressed nicely enough, maybe a little geeky, but overall he looks pretty normal. He stands a little behind Hotch with his hands in his pockets and nods and smiles at everyone. Okay, shy, but normal.

Of course his eyes are unusually large and a dark gold colored, the pupil is a bit larger than a slit. He has four long white eyebrows just above his very regular brown eyebrows.  He has a few whiskers on each cheek, and when he smiles, he definitely has long and pointy eye teeth.  Morgan notices that when he turns his head, his ears almost show and they look pointed and maybe they’re furry, but he can’t quite tell.

His tail, that is furry, or at least mostly furry. It hangs almost to the ground and while they’re going through introductions and discussing Spencer’s desk and the office set up, the tail is slowly moving from side to side. Spencer’s jacket covers the top and Morgan admits that he’s curious – it’s a continuation of his tail-bone, right? So is there a hole in his pants for the tail to come out? Does he have to make the hole himself? Are there stores that sell clothes for people with...

“MORGAN? Sorry to interrupt your thoughts. As I said, please make sure that Agent Reid gets settled and sit with him and review the profiles you’re working on. He’ll be with us on the next case.” Hotch turns and goes back to his office. Rossi smirks and goes back to his office and Emily slinks back to her desk. Hotch doesn’t usually chastise anyone in public, but when he does, everyone takes cover.

Except of course Garcia who is still bouncing around their desks looking like she wants to ask a million questions, but maybe this time, she’ll be able to hold it in.

Reid looks at her and tilts his head. He says, “You may ask one question each day. I will answer anything that isn’t too personal or none of your business. And I get to ask you a question each day as well. Does that work?”

“Ooooo, yes. But wait, how do you decide what’s too personal? Maybe someone else should decide what’s too personal. We could say that Morgan gets to decide if it’s personal because he’s both an uninterested party and he’s also very private. Does that work?”

“No. I don’t know Agent Morgan yet and you two are friends. I’ve made an offer, yes or no.” Spencer just looks at her and Morgan notices that he doesn’t blink much. It’s a little unsettling. He also thinks that Reid is pretty smart to recognize that without something Garcia won’t go away, but putting in limits is good.

“Yes! Oh great, can we start today?”

“Yes,” Reid replies. “That was a pretty lame question, but maybe you’ll do better tomorrow. My question: you don’t look like a Garcia. Married name?”

“Oh, man, that is such a cheat!! Should that count? Prentiss? Morgan, stick up for me!”

“Sorry, Baby Girl, he got you. Answer him.”

“I still think I should get an official protest, but I’ll answer. Garcia is my step-father’s name. I am Dutch. And tomorrow, I am going to get something good!” But for all the fire, she smiles before she flounces off to her office.

“You do realize, Reid, that she will stick to her plans and ask you increasingly personal questions every day,” Prentiss says as Reid pulls his chair closer, but not close, to Morgan’s desk.

“Yes, but that gives me a night to figure out what’s next. Morgan, may I call you Morgan? Do you have questions, or do you want to tell me what you’d like me to do?” Spencer asks quietly.

“Morgan is fine, kid. No, no questions. Let me show you a file and you can tell me if I’m going too fast or slow, okay? I don’t know what you know.” Morgan pulls over the file he’s been working on and starts to explain what they look for and some of the basics of profiling.

The first time Spencer goes in the field with them, Morgan is worried that he hasn’t adequately prepared him working with the local LEOs. He’s been working as Spencer’s mentor, and he’s impressed with how quickly Spencer picks up instructions and recognizes important details. But paper-work and real people are very different things.

The “ask a question” agreement with Garcia has worked well and they’re learning more about him and most of it, frankly, is pretty depressing. Spencer relates in a calm, even voice that he never met his mother; the Gen-Alt babies were raised by specifically chosen nurses who gave them enough physical contact to ensure they’d survive, but not much more. They were raised in what he refers to as “The Center.” He startles at loud noises because it wasn’t unheard of that a rebellious Feline would be shot in front of the others to ensure compliance.

He now lives in a government owned apartment with other Gen-Alts that they all call “The Barracks.” It’s the first time he’s been able to purchase clothes, furniture, books or food of his choice. One of the highlights of his week is going to the grocery store; he buys something new each time because he didn’t get to pick his meals before.  He doesn’t drink alcohol, loves coffee and can’t tolerate dairy.

He does stop Penny from questions that are too personal, and occasionally he can still trick her by counting “Hi, sweetie, how was your evening?” as the day’s question.

For their first couple of cases, Spencer stays at Quantico working with Garcia.  For the third case, Strauss has instructed that he must go into the field with the team.

Morgan thinks he’s ready, he’s just a little nervous at how the LEOs will treat him. After his initial reluctance (okay, he was an ass), Morgan is very protective of their new team member. “Babe in the woods” comes to mind. While the locals do seem curious, it’s usually no worse than Garcia’s curiosity. Morgan knows that Spencer is nervous talking with the police detectives by the way that his tail is slightly swishing back and forth and his pupils are a little bigger than they’d normally be in the bright light of the office. But he knows his stuff and he meets their eyes and explains why his geographic profile clearly shows where the unsub is hunting for victims.  

When they’re finished giving the profile, Spencer turns to Morgan and quietly says, “I did okay?”

“Yeah, real good. You did good.” He pats Spencer’s shoulder.

Spencer smiles to himself and nods a little before he turns away, back to work.

Within 24 hours, they’ve arrested their kidnapper at his house, with his latest victim unharmed.

On the plane going home, Spencer finds a seat that is likely to be in the sun for most of the flight. It’s next to Hotch who is doing paperwork, but Spencer plops down next him, tucks his long legs under himself, his tail wrapped around his legs, and promptly falls asleep. Hotch continues working as Spencer follows the sun in his sleep and ends up with his head on Hotch’s leg. Emily and Rossi are close to giggling, especially when Hotch rubs Spencer behind his ear and down his jaw.

Morgan raises eyebrow and Hotch whispers, “I had another three hours of manager training that you got to miss. Including that some Gen-Alts like to be petted on their heads or backs and it’s a perfectly acceptable form of praise and comfort. I asked Spencer and he said he doesn’t mind, as long as he knows who’s doing it. Oh, and by the way, when you hear them calling someone ‘plain’ – that’s how they refer to us.”

Spencer must like the scratching, because he suddenly stretches, yawns hugely, and resettles mostly on Hotch’s lap. Hotch smiles and rubs Spencer’s neck and suddenly the noise of the engine is drowned out by loud purring.

For some reason, Morgan is both glad and slightly uncomfortable.

The first time Spencer goes to interview a witness, Morgan is concerned that his awkwardness with people will be an issue. Interviewing people is about asking the right questions, reading body language and facial clues. If people aren’t comfortable around you, you won’t get good responses. Morgan knows there are people he’s better at interviewing than others; it’s just a fact of law enforcement, certain people bond better than others.

Spencer is mainly over his shyness with the team and with most people in the office. If anyone even looks at him oddly, or god forbid, says something rude, Garcia is on their ass faster than a bullet. The only time something has been awkward was when Spencer, Morgan and Agent Devon, from another team, were in the break room.  Devon and Morgan were discussing the weekend football games and Devon went to high-five Morgan and then Spencer. Spencer flinched back and his tail actually fluffed. Devon muttered a comment, rolled his eyes and walked out. Spencer wants to apologize to Devon, but Morgan tells him it’s not a big deal and won’t let him.

Spencer has said that they weren’t hit at the Center, that corporal punishment was forbidden and guards who abused the Gen-Alts were removed and he was never physically hurt. Morgan isn’t sure that’s strictly the truth. He remembers why Spencer hates loud noises.

When they get to the witness’s house, Hotch and Morgan are approaching the house when Spencer quietly sniffs the air and whispers, “Stop. There’s… there’s a body here. It’s in the woods over there.” He points into the dark by the side of the building that’s a virtual forest.

Hotch directs Morgan to go with Spencer, swearing that there’s not a more powerful flashlight in the police car they’ve borrowed. Spencer smiles a little and says, “We won’t get lost.” His eyes are huge and red, reflecting the moon.

Spencer leads a ways into the wood and then stops, touching Morgan on the chest. “He’s in front of us.”

Morgan hears a whimper and then things happen quickly. In the end, they’ve arrested the witness’s brother who killed four girls, and buried them in his brother’s back yard.

At the station, they fill out reports and get ready to go home. Morgan tells Spencer, “You did a really good job today,” and Spencer suddenly butts his head against Morgan’s shoulder.  While Morgan is surprised, Spencer looks mortified at what he just did. Morgan laughs, puts an arm around his shoulder and walks him out to the car.

The first time Morgan shares a hotel room with Spencer, he tries to keep his curiosity in check. After all, they all know a lot about Spencer from Garcia’s daily questions.

And they’ve all seen Spencer’s elaborate stretching routine. After he’s been sleeping on the jet or just sitting at his desk awhile, he’ll stand and start. First, both arms above his head, then just the right arm and stretch to the left. Then raise the left arm and stretch to the right. Then grab the right elbow with the left hand and turn to the left until he’s almost turned all the way around. Repeat on the other side. Then he bends down and grabs his ankles and slowly stands back up, rolling his back, apparently vertebrae by vertebrae. His tail swishes from side to side until the end when it looks like it’s stretching too. Stretch one leg and then the other. Finally he kind of shakes everything.  There are about four yawns in the process and anyone who watches him ends up yawning along. The first time he did it on the jet, everyone just watched, fascinated. Spencer looked around and asked, “What? Everything okay? Did I miss something?”

In the hotel, Spencer says he’ll shower in the morning and Morgan should go ahead in the bathroom. Morgan comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later in his sweats, deciding if he should read over the files again to see if anything jumps out at him or just go to bed. Bed is currently winning. Spencer is already at the desk, sorting through the witness statements.

“That was fast. I think I’m going to go to sleep, but you can keep the lights on if you want, Morgan, it won’t bother me.”

Morgan knows that Spencer’s upbringing was based on the military, so he’s not surprised Spencer undresses without a lot of unnecessary modesty. He’s pretty quick and puts his dirty clothes into a plastic bag and shoves them in his suitcase. Of course he’s naked while he’s doing this and Morgan is trying not to stare.

Spencer stands up and turns around and says, “It’s okay, you can look. I try to look at plainers when I can. You’re… interesting.” He’s smiling and his whiskers are forward, which Morgan knows means he’s feeling good.

“How am I interesting and what does “plainer” mean?” Morgan asks, grinning.

“Well, we refer to all of you as ‘plain people’ or ‘plainers’ – it’s not an insult, it’s just… well, you’re not very decorated. Well, you are, but most of you aren’t. And the way your spine just ends… it’s interesting. And you call us Felines, right? I guess that’s one of the nicer ones.”

Morgan takes a good look at Spencer. He has a T of fur across his chest and stomach going into fur in his crotch. It’s mainly white with a little orange tint and looks soft. The fur in his armpits is white. Morgan is surprised that he has a tattoo on his right forearm that says “Focus on the Now” in blue script.

Spencer turns around to show Morgan his back, which has a stripe of orange and white fur down his spine to his tail, which waves slowly. When he looks over his shoulder, smiling like a starlet on the red carpet, Morgan gets a decidedly funny feeling in his stomach. He smiles and says, “Yeah, Feline, not plain. Guess it’s bed time, need to be up early tomorrow.”

Spencer gets into his bed, curls up and quickly falls asleep. Morgan takes a little longer to fall asleep, not sure what’s keeping him awake.

The first time Morgan realizes he had feelings for Spencer is when Spencer walks into the office with a woman.

She’s the Gen-Alt that works in Counter Terrorism, Agent Morris. She and Spencer talk for a few minutes outside the break room and then she touches him on the arm, and says, “Thanks for the coffee.  See you tonight, right, Spence?” And then she sashays down the hall, tail swinging.

Prentiss smiles at Spencer and raises an eyebrow. He smiles back and says, “Good morning. What did I miss?”

Garcia is almost vibrating with excitement and waiting to ask today’s question.

Morgan suddenly doesn’t feel quite as chipper and asks, “Breakfast and tonight? Sounds serious.”

Spencer frowns a little and replies, “I met her for coffee this morning because I upset her last night. I made a comment about going out with a plainer and I forgot that … there was a guard at the center who …” He stops and looks down.

“Oh, no!” Garcia cries. “Did he…”

He nods. “He attacked her. She filed a complaint and he just vanished, that sometimes happened with guards. Any relationship between guards and us, even consensual, was forbidden, they really didn’t know what would happen if there were any unplanned children. Well, I said something about dating a plainer and she got mad… anyway, we talked about it and I think we’re okay.” Spencer is getting more coffee, lots of sugar, no cream.

“I’m still not sure I like the term ‘plainer,’ but today’s question,” Garcia says, “Is would you date a plainer?”

“Not exclusively, but I would and I have,” Spencer smiles. “Not terrific, but that was the person. Apparently my tongue is too weird, I have the sandpaper tongue; they bred that out in later versions.” Again, Spencer is so matter of fact that he’s left the breakroom for his desk before anyone can ask anything.

“So what about seeing her tonight?” Derek asks, attempting to be casual.

“Well… if I’m not traveling, I get together with a few people at a friend’s house for pizza and we watch The Big Bang Theory and laugh at the inaccuracies. That was a free question, by the way.” He smiles and turns back to his monitor, starting to work.

Morgan hasn’t been able to concentrate all day. In the afternoon, he brings a mocha with extra whip to Garcia’s den and flops down in a chair.

“You look unhappy, my love, what’s the matter?” Garcia sips and wipes the whipped cream off her nose.

“Nothing much, sugar. Just a few things on my mind, I guess.”

“Like Agent Morris?”

Morgan moves some of Garcia’s things around her desk. “Yeah. It’s pretty awful what Spencer was saying about how she’d been raped by the people who were supposed to be watching her, but the whole thing is awful.  Do you know how she’s doing here?”

“I guess the work is okay, I know she prefers what she’s doing to our dead people. But I think she gets a little harder time. I heard that once she went into the bathroom and someone left a litter box in one of the stalls.”

“Man, that sucks. I wasn’t that enthused to start with, but I wouldn’t do something so childish. So hey, Reid is dating Morris now?” Not smooth, Morgan, but he can’t hold it in any longer.

Garcia smiles and sips her coffee for a minute, letting him sweat. “No, honey, they’re not dating, they’re friends.”

“Yeah? Have you two talked about it?”

“He told me that he’s not seeing anyone right now. Why are you so curious, sweetie?” Garcia asks, smiling wickedly.

Morgan replies, “I’m not. It just seems that they’d be good together, they have a lot in common, they both work for the FBI and of course, they’re both Felines and they both live in the same building…”

Garcia interrupts, “And they both date men. Honey, believe me, she is not his type. In fact, he’s interested in someone. Pining away actually, sure that his crush doesn’t feel the same.”

“Interesting. Did he tell you who?” Morgan asks. He’s sure that Garcia is going to say it’s the guy in White Collar crimes. They worked with that unit last month and there was a guy who was overly friendly with Reid, standing close, asking questions, touching his neck. Really, some people have no idea of professional.

“You, my oblivious chocolate Adonis. He isn’t immune to your very plain charms. So. Since you’re obviously smitten as well, what are you going to do about it?”

Morgan has no idea.

The first time Spencer and Morgan kiss, they’re in the hallway of a bar at the end of a busy week. The week started slow with paperwork and reports and ended with a child kidnapped in Baltimore. The girl was rescued after 36 hours. There were clothes from three other girls in the unsub’s house, and Monday they’ll find out who needs to receive the most horrible news possible.

Prentiss talks them into “just one drink” before going home. It turns into a couple and then a few. Prentiss was poured into a cab, Will was called for JJ and he took Garcia home as well. Hotch left after his one drink and Rossi was last seen talking to a pretty redhead at the bar, but that was over an hour ago.

Spencer doesn’t drink. Alcohol doesn’t get him drunk, it just makes him feel ill. Over the course of the evening, Morgan has had a few drinks and told Spencer about his family, college years and his dad’s death.

When they’ve been there far too long, Spencer tells Morgan it’s time to go and he’s going to the restroom first. He comes out and Morgan pulls him into a doorway and murmurs something that might be “I shouldn’t, but I don’t care.”

The first kiss is fairly tentative; Spencer pulls back and looks at Morgan and asks, “How drunk are you? I don’t want you to regret anything tomorrow.”

Morgan smiles. “Drunk enough to be brave; but don’t worry, you’re not taking advantage of me.”

They kiss slowly getting used to each other. Morgan has been with men before, and tall and slender is just his type. Holding Spencer, he’s surprised by how muscular he is, much more than he looks.

He feels Spencer’s whiskers against his face and his hand is on Spencer’s neck and he feels where his hairline turns into soft fur. Spencer’s tongue is scratchy against his lips and on his neck, with a hint of teeth. Morgan suddenly gets the thought of how the scratchy tongue might feel elsewhere and he moans and pulls Spencer closer.

Spencer pulls back again and looks at Morgan with his huge eyes reflective in the dim light. “Can we go to your house? I’m not sure it’s a good idea for me to sneak a plainer home at night; it’s probably better to bring you in during the day, the first time.”

“Sure, whatever you want, Pretty Boy. Let’s go.”

Spencer leads him out the back door, and Morgan follows the purr, hypnotized by the tail, curling up towards the ceiling.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written a while ago for the Kink Meme on LJ. Someone on Tumblr asked about the follow-up chapters which are no longer on LJ, so I'll add them here. 
> 
> There's a few parts to this, but I didn't finish it -- it turned into a case fic and got away from me. But the first three parts can be read as finished fics. 
> 
> I do not give permission to post this on any other site, including, but not limited to Good Reads. This is fanfic, leave it here.


End file.
